The Beach Boys

Released: January 8, 1973

Songwriter: Brian Wilson

Producer: Carl Wilson Brian Wilson

[Spoken Word - Jack Rieley]
As soon as he turned it on
The wind outside of his room
Stirred up for a few seconds

He thought to himself
"i'll climb out my window
And go sit out there with my radio"

Out the window he went
Sitting against a small stump
Behind some flowerbeds

The light from his bedroom window he could still see
The music of Bach was playing

After a while it began to sound distant
As the young prince gazed at this radio on his knee
The music was floating away from his hearing

What could be happening
He took it off of his knee
And put the radio to his ear
Nothing happened

Then the transistor left his hands
And was floating in the mid-air
Two feet off the ground

As the prince laughed
It suddenly turned around
And it was light green phosphourous in color

Dancing back and forth
The magic transistor
Started moving down his path

He could hear the sound out
Like nothing he had ever heard before!

The trees were getting closer together
And flowers glowed with tinges of magic light
As he followed thinking to himself
"what's going on?"

The transistor lifted slowly
Up to the top of a little tree
And sat there
While it slowly became louder
To where the prince could hear it clearly

Fireflies shot across the path in front of the prince
He turned around and couldn't see the light from his window
There he was watching all alone all by himself
He got a hunch to get back to his room
And he turned and ran right back

The Beach Boys are one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time and the first American pop band to reach the 50-year milestone. Their vocal harmonies are among the most unmistakable and enduring of the rock and roll era.

Formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California, by Brian Wilson, his two brothers Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and classmate Al Jardine, the group’s first single “Surfin'” got them signed to Capitol Records and they quickly became one of the most popular and successful artists of the surf music craze of the 1960s. From 1962 to 1966, The Beach Boys scored over twenty top 40 hits in the US including the chart-toppers “I Get Around”, “Help Me Rhonda” & “Good Vibrations” along with the top 5’s “Surfin USA”, “Fun, Fun, Fun”, “California Girls”, “Barbara Ann” & “Sloop John B”. Several of the band’s singles also found top 40 success in Canada, Australia, Sweden and the UK. In 1965, de facto leader Brian Wilson suffered a mental breakdown due to the stress of writing, producing & touring combined with substance abuse issues, causing him to step down and stop traveling with the band on tour.

Inspired by producer Phil Spector and The Beatles' Rubber Soul, Brian focused on studio work, determined to keep the group relevant as the surf music scene was fading with their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Despite tension between members in the studio about this new direction, lack of faith from the record label, mixed reviews, and comparatively lukewarm reception initially in the US, the album still found massive success in the UK and earned accolades from fellow artists including The Beatles, who acknowledged that the album was their inspiration to further push the boundaries of pop music with their landmark album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Eventually Pet Sounds would be acknowledged as one of the greatest albums ever recorded by several media outlets like The Times, Mojo Magazine, The Guardian, VH1, BBC and Rolling Stone.

more tracks from the album

Mount Vernon And Fairway (EP)

From the albums

Mount Vernon And Fairway (EP) (1973)
Holland (1973)

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